User:Masem/draft/qd update

In January 2018, three French news outlets—Le Monde, Mediapart, and Canard PC —published the results of a joint investigation into the company's business practices. Le Monde called Quantic Dream "a toxic corporate culture, management with inappropriate words and attitudes, under-considered employees, overwhelming workloads and questionable contractual practices". First among the allegations raised by the newspapers, Cage and de Fondaumière were said to have participated in or encouraged a sexist and racist culture, with controversial images exchanged by email and posted around the office including photos of studio collaborators and employees digitally edited to appear as Nazis or porn stars. Canard PC stated that the entire IT department had quit in March 2017 because of these "bad jokes". Second, studio management was accused of employing an arduous "crunch time" schedule in which 15-35 additional hours of work per week were expected for a year before a game's launch. Third, the human resources department was accused of colluding to terminate fixed-term contract staff before their deal expired, violating French labour laws, and arranging settlements to remove employees who did not fit in with the studio culture. In particular, the reports outlined how de Fondaumière conspired with the company to use French labor laws to contest his dismissal in 2016 and obtain a €60,000 compensation fee that was not subject to social security collection via URSSAF.

In the wake of the reports, some of the dismissed IT employees filed lawsuits against Quantic Dream for wrongful termination. Two of them were dismissed by the Parisian employment tribunal. Another employee won their lawsuit in December 2019; the employee initially sought €114,000 in damages under the French law that the company had a "security obligation" to protect them from workplace harassment and that their resignation should be considered wrongful termination under the employment law of prise d'acte. However, the tribunal court found that once the employee complained about the fake photo being circulated, Quantic Dream stopped its circulation, and thus had met its security obligation. The tribunal still ruled for the employee and ordered Quantic Dream to pay €5,000 in addition to a €2,000 fee in December 2019 after finding that the company "[remained] passive in the face of this practice more than questionable, which can not be justified by the 'humorous' spirit of which the company avails itself, the employer has committed a breach of the obligation of security".

Another lawsuit from a fourth resigned IT employee, seeking similar compensation under prise d'acte, was initially ruled for the employee in July 2018. In April 2021, the Court of Appeal of Paris reversed the ruling against Quantic Dream over the wrongful termination, asserting the employee had been complicit in the situation and cleared Quantic Dream of any wrongdoing while ordering the former employee to pay €10,000 back to Quantic Dream.

Upon publication of the media reports in 2018, Cage said the allegations were "ridiculous, absurd and grotesque"; de Fondaumière stated "I will be extremely clear: it's absolutely false". In February 2018, the studio called the charges "a veritable smear campaign" in an official statement. Quantic Dream levied lawsuits against Le Monde and Mediapart in April 2018, while Canard PC received two "threatening letters". The trial over Quantic Dream's suit against news outlets Le Monde and Mediapart was held in May 2021. The verdict was given on 9 September 2021. Libel accusations against Le Monde were recognised by the court, as Le Monde had not be able to identify the sources it had used and thus had failed to meet the burden of proof. The court found for Mediapart, dismissing charges related to three of seven passages in their report about Quantic Dream, while stating that the other four were made in "good faith" as they had "a sufficient factual basis" as to not qualify for libel.